Final answer:
The auditory system differentiates pitch using one type of receptor—hair cells—located along the cochlea's basilar membrane, which are tuned to specific frequencies. They transduce mechanical energy from sound waves into electrical signals that the brain interprets to perceive different pitches. Hence, option (A) is correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
The auditory system utilizes hair cells as the sensory receptors for hearing. These receptors convert the mechanical energy from sound waves into electrical signals that the brain can interpret. When addressing the question of which option correctly identifies the number of receptor types, the auditory system does not have a different type of receptor for each frequency, nor does it have three or four types of receptors.
Instead, it utilizes one type of receptor—the hair cells—across the basilar membrane of the cochlea. Hair cells are tuned to specific frequencies depending on their location inside the cochlea. Different frequencies of sound vibrations stimulate different hair cells along the basilar membrane, which enables us to perceive a wide range of pitches.
Different aspects of sensory information, such as type, location, duration, and intensity of the stimulus, are encoded by sensory systems and segregated by dedicated neural pathways. For audition, this translates into a specificity whereby each area within the cochlea is excited by a specific frequency range, allowing us to differentiate among various pitches. This mechanism underlies the encoding and transmission of auditory information to the brain, where it is further processed and integrated into our perception of sound.